Employee (Un)engagement: Unhappy employees are costing you billions

Crystal Spraggins, SPHR70 percent of American workers are unhappy at work and it's costing businesses billions of dollars per year. Find out what a recent survey says about the cost of unhappy employees.

June 4, 2015

70 percent of American workers are unhappy at work and it’s costing businesses billions of dollars per year. Find out what a recent survey says about the cost of unhappy employees.

When an employee is disengaged (because of, say, a bad boss, an out-of-whack workload, and/or too little appreciation), subpar pay and benefits will send him or her right over the cliff to active disengagement.

And when an employee is emotionally connected to work, the right pay is just the right thing to ensure the employee stays put and productive. According to PayScale’s 2015 Compensation Best Practices Report, “seeking higher pay elsewhere” is the top reason people leave jobs.

Every employer has excellent reasons to spend serious time addressing the seriously expensive issue of employee disengagement. The Gallup research proves it.

But even though the drivers of disengagement have been well documented, most employers are having a doozy of a time correcting course.

So here’s one thing employers can do to make the situation easier on themselves: Take the issue of money completely off the table. Pay competitive and attractive wages from the get go, and that’ll leave the way clear to focus on more complicated stuff like constructive feedback, recognition, employee development, and supportive management—everything we know leads to happier and more industrious employees.

Make compensation easy! Sign up for a PayScale demo here and begin paying your employees right every time.